


Tea Time

by NepetaQuest



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Timelines, F/M, KarNep - Freeform, NepKat, derse dreamer nepeta, god tier karkat, karpeta, katnep - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-18
Updated: 2013-06-18
Packaged: 2017-12-15 08:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/847429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NepetaQuest/pseuds/NepetaQuest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While wandering through the dream bubbles, Karkat Vantas stumbles across a precipice of Nepeta Leijon's memory. Despite trust issues due to events that played out in his timeline, he decides that he's been avoiding his friends long enough, and hesitantly tries to enjoy Nepeta's company, enjoying it a bit more than he'd expected.</p><p>(Fluff. God Tier Karkat and Derse Dreamer Nepeta depicted in Roxy: Sleepwalk.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea Time

Karkat Vantas wandered through the dream bubble alone, as usual. The landscape around him ridden with fragmented pieces of reminisced realities, he glanced about nonchalantly, hands stuffed into the pockets of his god tier pajamas. At least his Knight of Blood getup wasn’t completely heinous – he kept his nubby wings concealed to avoid taunts. Not that he’d get made fun of anyways – he hadn’t really been talking to anyone since his timeline was nullified. The very memory of his life’s end was enough to sober him into a once-rare silence.

In the afterlife, those silences became far too common.

He let out a sigh, an icy puff of breath billowing from his lips, and he shuddered. It was getting chilly – what memory was coming up? He looked up at the sky, dusky pastel in color, and then down as soft grass turned to some sort of crunchy white terrain. He bent down to examine it, and realized that the ground was entirely made up of little cubes.

Oh. He knew where he was headed now.

His first instinct was to turn around and run. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to her right now, and he knew full well that if she saw him, or probably even caught his scent or some other catlike shit, she would never leave him alone. However, Karkat also knew that, while overbearing at times, Nepeta genuinely cared about him. And through his journey amidst the dream bubbles, he’d come across many Nepetas – some were a little older or younger than his timeline’s Nep, some were more confident and open and some were more shy and reserved. They were all a little different, but there was one thing that never changed:

They all loved Karkat Vantas.

Though it creeped him out a little, the fact that her unrequited love for him was a constant through every possible timeline was sobering at the least. Flattering, even. But he wasn’t really sure what to make of it, or how to feel about it. Even still, he didn’t stop walking. He kept shuffling along, kicking sugar cubes about in his wake, and drawing his cape about his arms and shoulders to keep himself warm.

Not too far off, he could see a puff of steam billowing into the brisk LOLCAT air. Knowing it was either hot tea or a fire – either way, it was something warm – he headed in that direction, bracing himself for the imminent pounce-greeting he was sure to receive.

When he came up over the hill, Karkat saw a small, ornately-carved white table covered in a long circular cloth, set with two pink-and-yellow teacups with black catlike designs on them and a matching teapot. The ground around the table was littered with other teapots in a varied assortment of colors, all decorated with similar cat paintings. Upon drawing closer, he noticed that each teapot had a different tea name etched into the lid. The one on the table read “chameowmile”. He couldn’t help but snicker at the cat pun, and sat down at the table.

He almost  _wanted_  to wait for her. The setting was obviously a machination of her memory so she couldn’t be too far off, after all – but it was freezing, and, as a lowblood, he couldn’t regulate his temperature as well as a troll higher up the hemospectrum would be able to. In such bone-chilling weather, he’d be an icicle by the time Nepeta showed up. So he poured himself a generous serving of tea, and sipped at it in silence while he waited.

\--

“This is stupid,” he thought. He’d been sitting alone, drinking his tea, for almost thirty minutes. “She’s not coming.”

He set his tea down with a sigh and stood, ready to move on, when Nepeta finally made an appearance. Literally, she seemed to appear out of nowhere, and tackled the unsuspecting Knight of Blood to the ground.

“OOF! NEPETA!” Pinned to the ground, Karkat tried to escape her arms, coiled around his abdomen, but gave up after the little cubes kept poking him as he attempted to wriggle away. “OW, THESE CUBES FUCKING HURT! CAN YOU LIKE, GET OFF OF ME OR SOMETHING?”

She showed no signs of doing so, and therefore he quickly gave up. Once he stopped struggling, Karkat gave a somewhat-irritated huff, hoping that might shake her, but it didn’t. Instead, she just pressed closer, for once in complete silence, her face buried deep into the fabric of his hood where his neck and shoulder met. For a while neither of them said a word, and just laid there in silence, her gentle purring and the thumping of his heart the only things to be heard.

After a period of time which probably was no more than three minutes but seemed like it had lasted for eternity, Karkat cleared his throat, and she pulled back a little. “Sorry,” Nepeta grumbled, looking away. He wanted to be at least annoyed with her, but he couldn’t  - especially not after the way she’d died in his timeline.

He shook his head, and tried to think of something nice to say, but all he could muster up was, “IT’S FINE.” Even still, she smiled, and clambered off of him, scrambling to her feet.  As she brushed sugar crumbs off her clothes, he noticed that she was a dreamself, clad in a Derse-purple gown with olive slippers. He’d never seen Nepeta’s dreamself before – or anyones, for that matter, since his dreamself died before he’d fully awakened – but he could tell because of the violet moon on the dress.  He wondered what timeline she was from, but didn’t ask.

Karkat got to his feet and shook the sugardust from his pants, not meeting her loving gaze which scorched his cheeks. “SO, UH…NEPETA.” He wasn’t quite sure what to say – it’d been a while since he’d really held a conversation with someone. After what had happened in his timeline, it was hard to trust anyone anymore. “HOW…HOW ARE YOU?”

She grinned, showing her pearly fangs. “Much better now that you’re here, Karkitty!”

He tugged at the neck of his shirt anxiously. “OH, WELL, UH, THAT’S GOOD I GUESS. ME TOO, YOU KNOW. THE HEIGHT OF RELAXED AND CHILL.” She laughed at the obvious sarcasm, and stepped back, gesturing to the teatable. “You wanna sit down?”

Karkat nodded and took up a chair, sitting on it backwards, and she giggled, picking up the pot of “chameowmile” and pouring herself a cup, seeing as he'd already taken the liberty of serving himself. “I hope you like tea, I’m afuraid it’s all I have,” she apologized before sitting. He nodded and absently drew the cup to his lips. “Careful, it’s hot!”

The warning reached him too late, the hot tea singeing his lips and the tip of his tongue. “OW! FUCKING DAMMIT!” He practically slammed the cup back onto the table and jumped up, knocking his chair over. Nepeta was at his side in an instant, fretting over his burnt mouth. “Oh, Karkitty, I’m so sorry! I should’ve warned you sooner, oh gosh, I’m so furry sorry-”

“AH, NEPETA, STOP! I’M FINE, REALLY. JUST A FLESH WOUND.” She must not have gotten the reference to the popular movie Monty Python and the Trolly Grail (for short), because she still looked extremely worried. “Are you pawsitive?” she fretted, examining his lips a little too closely for his liking. “UH, YEAH. I’LL BE FINE. I’LL BE MORE CAREFUL NEXT TIME.” When she still didn’t smile, he added, “FROM WHAT I COULD TASTE PAST THE BURNING SENSATION, IT WAS PRETTY DELICIOUS.”

A small smile finally tugged at the corners of her lips. “Heehee, I’m glad you liked it,” she purred, finally leaving his side and returning to her seat. He attempted a smile as well, picking his chair back up and setting it up the right way, sitting down on it like a civilized troll. They sipped their tea quietly for a little while, sneaking glances at each other, and whenever their eyes would meet they’d both immediately look away.

Nepeta finished her tea first. “Um, Karkitty…?”

He peered over the edge of his teacup. “Hm?”

“Karkitty, I, uh…ouch!” Suddenly Nepeta felt a hard ping to her left horn. Karkat’s eyebrows shot up, and watched as the offending object bounced off her cranial structure and onto the table. He picked it up to examine it: naturally, it was just a little cube.

“Ow!”

He looked up again in time to see two more cubes hit her, one on the arm and the other on her nose. She scrambled out of her chair as a cube hit Karkat on the shoulder. “WHAT THE FUCK?”

She grabbed his arm, pulling him to the ground. “Efurry day it snows more cubes to repurrlace the ones that melt or get mewsed in tea. Trust me, you don’t want to be caught in the middle of a sugarstorm. C’mon!”

Nepeta yanked him down to his knees and practically dragged him under the table with her, the pocking sound of little cubes hitting the table above them getting louder and more frequent.  “NEPETA, NEPETA WAIT! THERE’S NOT ENOUGH ROOM FOR BOTH OF US UNDER HERE.”

After making him bunch himself up beneath the table pupa-style, Nepeta crawled under the tablecloth and curled herself into his chest, snuggling up to him like a kitten to its mother.  
  
He sighed. “OKAY, FINE. I GUESS I’LL DO THIS.” He began to pet her head softly, not so much because there was really nothing else he could do in the cramped quarters as it hailed sugar outside – but because, if he was being honest with himself, he missed physical contact with others. But just a little.

She began to purr, and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. Okay, he missed it a lot.

With a small snicker, he grumbled, “OKAY, OKAY, I’LL ADMIT THE PURRING IS KIND OF CUTE. JUST DON’T GET TOO TOUCHY-FEELY, ALRIGHT?” She laughed, and “purrmised” not to. “And by purrmise I mean promise, just so you know I’m being serious.” She winked, and he ruffled her hair with a halfhearted chuckle.

It felt like it was going to hail forever. “HOW LONG DO THESE STORMS USUALLY TAKE?” Karkat mumbled, more to himself than to her, but she chimed, “Mewsually not furry long, don’t worry!” He nodded, but still felt like the cloth walls were closing in around them, and the ceaseless  _pop! pop! pop!_ ping outside wasn’t really helping. Sensing his discomfort, Nepeta nuzzled his nose: his eyes widened, and he tried his hardest not to blush, though a small bit of crimson tint glowed upon his cheeks. “UM.”

She jerked back, face flushed olive. “Er…sorry.”

“IT, UH, IT’S ALRIGHT.” He looked down and fiddled with his cape a bit. “IT’S…KINDA BEEN A WHILE SINCE I WAS REALLY AROUND ANYONE. STILL TRYING TO RE-GET USED TO IT, YOU KNOW?” She nodded slightly, eyes averted and clearly still embarrassed. He sighed and gave her a hug. “IT’S NOT YOU.”

She buried her face in his neck, breathing in his warmth and the faintest scent of blood. He chuckled lightly when he heard her begin to purr again, and gently rubbed her back with one hand, petting her hair with the other. Mm, it was nice – he hadn’t been in such close contact with anyone for who-knows-how-long, and the barriers he’d built around his heart so nothing – and no one – would ever hurt him again were slowly crumbling under her warm embrace.

After a few minutes, when Nepeta hadn’t been showing any sign of pulling back, Karkat cleared his throat. There was no response but steady purring and the sound of breathing. “UH…NEPETA?” He poked her side. “THE HAIL’S LETTING UP…I THINK WE CAN GO OUT NOW. NEPETA…?”

Shit, she was asleep. As much as he wanted to grouch about it or wake her up, Karkat just sighed, and pulled her off him a little. He looked down at her face – wow, she was peaceful when she slept. It wouldn’t hurt to let her sleep for a while, right…? He had nowhere better to be.

He laid her across his lap, bringing his cape around to cover her like a blanket. She purred in her slumber and curled up a bit closer to him, and he smiled, really smiled, for the first time since the end of his session. He rest his forehead against hers, cradling her against his chest, and let the thumping of her heart fill the silence in his own. 


End file.
